Chapter One Hundred and Forty-Seven

"Fubao, I'm so hungry," the young Miss Chen wailed, flinging herself onto the bed and continuously crying out for food.

"Here, take this," Fubao muttered, pulling a large steamed bun from who-knows-where and tossing it over.

"Ooh, a bun!" Miss Chen didn't even ask and took a huge bite right into it.

"Where did this bun come from?" Miss Chen mumbled with her mouth completely full.

"I brought it yesterday. It's the only one left, and I was saving it. You're lucky," Fubao shot Miss Chen a sideways glance.

"You're the best! Don't worry, the moment we get back, I'm treating you to a grand feast at the Treasure Gathering Pavilion."

"You promised that."

"Mm-hmm."

"Little cousin, are you in there?" Bai Jie's voice echoed from outside the tent. A moment later, he flipped the tent flap and stepped inside.

Taking in Bai Jie's attire, Fubao asked in astonishment, "Little cousin, what on earth are you wearing? Why are you dressed up like a peacock?"

Bai Jie was wearing a set of gleaming red armor, looking thoroughly vain and ridiculous.

"Go on, is that any way to speak? Your cousin is going on an expedition with your uncle's permission, and we're heading into the forest to hunt."

As it turned out, yesterday General Bai had left Bai Jie behind at the camp because he was too young, forbidding him from entering the forest.

However, last night upon seeing the massive piles of hunted game, Bai Jie had turned green with envy. Early this morning, he had pestered, cajoled, and acted cute until General Bai finally relented and allowed him to enter the forest to hunt, assigning a number of guards to accompany him.

"What do you want, bright and early?" Fubao asked, suppressing a yawn.

"Come on, your cousin is taking you into the mountains to hunt!" Bai Jie grabbed Fubao by the shoulders and dragged her toward the tent exit.

"Hey, hey, I haven't tidied up yet!"

"No need for that."

"Hurry up and move."

"No way!"

"Hey! What about me? Wait for me!" Miss Chen finished off her large steamed bun in two bites, grabbed her small bow and arrows, and rushed out after them.

...

"Obey and hand the stuff over, or I'll ruin your pretty face," a malicious voice echoed through the dense forest, though the voice sounded somewhat familiar.

"Do you really think your abilities could get you something this good? You must have stolen it from somewhere!" another voice chimed in.

"Stolen? Coming from her? Maybe this bitch found out about some good spot, otherwise how could a cursed jinx like her ever get her hands on such prime ginseng?"

"Exactly, exactly!"

Amidst the ongoing argument, three heads poked out from a nearby bush, staring with wide eyes at the farce unfolding before them.

"What's going on? Isn't that Liu Feier and her little followers? What are they doing here?" Miss Chen asked in bewilderment.

"No idea. Wait, isn't that Lin Jiajia lying on the ground over there?"

"You can't even tell? She got beaten up, obviously," Bai Jie said, rolling his eyes at Miss Chen.

"Wait, Lin Jiajia? You mean that unlucky girl who seems possessed by the god of plagues?"

Bai Jie actually knew of Lin Jiajia's infamous reputation. If one were to ask who the unluckiest person in the world was, Lin Jiajia would undoubtedly take the crown. Out of three hundred and sixty days in a year, she spent three hundred of them being kidnapped. Although the girl was naturally prone to catching the eye of scoundrels, every single time she was kidnapped, she would end up being obediently returned unharmed, and shortly after, the bandits' lair would be raided by the authorities.

Another time, she was lured away by human traffickers with a single candied hawthorn stick, though naturally, she was caught by the Dali Temple before she even left the city gates.

Aside from kidnappings and abductions of all scales, the rest of her days were filled with bizarre accidents. For instance, choking on her food to the point of turning blue in the face—just as it seemed she was about to breathe her last, Lin Jiajia would roll her eyes a few times, and before long, she'd be vibrant enough to devour another massive bowl.

Or she would trip while walking, bump her head so badly it swelled into a giant lump, and get carried home by the servants. Even the physician would shake his head, declaring a full recovery unlikely and warning she might be left simple-minded. Yet, the very next day, Lin Jiajia would skip into the classroom with a massive butterfly bow perched atop her head.

Every mishap terrified those around her, only for her to bounce back into high spirits the moment they blinked.

"Did you hear me? Are you going to hand it over, or do you really expect this young lady to do it herself?" The speaker was Pan Xiaolian, one of Liu Feier's sycophants. Fubao never expected that such a sickly-looking young girl could harbor such malice.

"No, I can't. This is medicine to save my father's life, I can't give it to you," Lin Jiajia said, clutching the medicinal herbs she had risked her life to find tightly to her chest.

"Bah! That sickly father of yours is bound to die soon anyway. You'd be much better off letting me take it to treat Crown Prince Brother's wounds," Liu Feier said, crossing her arms and looking down with disdain at Lin Jiajia sprawled on the ground.

Lin Jiajia was the legitimate granddaughter of the Minister of Rites, but what was the use of having a grandfather who was a minister when Lin's father was utterly useless and bedridden like a sickly ghost? Naturally, she was left to be bullied by anyone and everyone.

"Pry her open and snatch the stuff away!" Liu Feier commanded impatiently.

"No, don't! Stop it!" Lin Jiajia gripped the herbs in her arms for dear life.

"Hey! Liu Feier, don't you think you're going a bit too far? Committing open robbery in broad daylight—so this is the kind of upbringing they have in the Liu household? Truly impressive."

Liu Feier turned her head and spotted Fubao with a bird's nest made of grass perched haphazardly on her head (purposely stolen from a tree for the sake of disguise).

"Lin Cenbao? Heh, I'm warning you, stay out of this unless you want me to deal with you." Liu Feier couldn't care less about Fubao.

"Ooh, I'm so scared. Can you even beat me?" Fubao dug into her nose, feigning absolute contempt. It was a joke to think she'd lose; although she might fall short of Liu Feier in other respects, when it came to brawling, she had never tasted defeat.

Liu Feier: "..."

"Are you really determined to protect this plague-bringer?"

"A plague-bringer? Ha! The girl is just a little unlucky. You probably haven't even seen a real plague-bringer," Fubao said, pouting and glancing disdainfully at Liu Feier. Calling someone a plague-bringer at every turn showed a complete lack of ladylike decorum.

"Say whatever you want. I'm telling you, I only want the herbs in her hands; I have zero interest in the person herself." At that moment, Liu Feier's sole focus was seizing the medicine from Lin Jiajia's embrace.

"She gathered them herself, so why should she give them to you? You've got some nerve."

"Miss Liu, why waste your breath on her? Let's deal with her first, then grab the medicine!" chimed in Miss Yu, another of Liu Feier's followers.

"Lin Cenbao, don't blame me. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself for being so annoying. Someone, give her a thorough beating!" Liu Feier made a gesture, and several robust maids clad in armor stepped forward.

"Let's see how formidable my maids are."

Fubao: "..." They look so bulky. I want to run.

A moment later, Fubao could be seen darting up and down, dodging frantically as the burly maids chased her, yet somehow they just couldn't catch her.

Liu Feier: "..." Is this girl a monkey?

"Never mind, let's get our hands on the stuff first," the Yu family's sycophant urged.

"Agreed."

And so, the young ladies who had been busy watching the spectacle suddenly realized that Lin Jiajia, who had been lying on the ground just moments ago, had vanished.

"What's going on? Where is she?" Liu Feier demanded, exasperated.

"I have no idea! She was right here a second ago!"

"Ow!"

"Damn it!"

"My backside!"

Before Liu Feier could sort out her own mess, a new disaster struck on Fubao's end—all of her maids were now lying sprawled inside a pit. As for Fubao, she had successfully lured them into the trap and slipped away.

"Detestable! This is infuriating! Lin Cenbao, I am not finished with you!"